Too Long
by Ataraninja
Summary: MAJOR SPOILERS! This is what I think should happen when Sakura and Sasuke meet again during an attack on Konoha. SasuSaku. By popular demand, this is now a story!
1. Chapter 1, Too Long

Too Long

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...but I wish I did because the events in this story would not even take place. The bad one…that's at the very beginning…that Masashi Kishimoto is wrong for doing…anyways…**

**Intro: WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE WITH THE MANGA (CHAPTERS 400-403). I REPEAT: DO NOT READ…**

**Okay, now that that's over and done with, the real intro. This is basically a one-shot that I thought of while actually reading the manga and the plans that were being made by certain people…Sasuke and Tobi (Madara Uchiha).**

**This is just what I think should happen when Sasuke and Sakura meet again…when Sasuke is attacking the village.**

Akatsuki members flooded into the city from all angles, their shapes only visible by the light of the full moon that illuminated four other shapes poised on the opposite side of the village walls. This was a newly-formed group by the name of "Falcon." And leading this menacing group was the missing-nin Sasuke Uchiha who had grown up in this very place.

His raven-colored hair blew peacefully in the breeze though this entire village was about to be thrown into uproar. His onxy-colored eyes focused in on one point. The plan had been to surprise Konoha, swiftly handle the elders, and make their getaway before anyone could intercept them, but his keen eyes told him that wasn't happening.

A flash of pink and blond running toward the Hokage's tower told him that Tsunade and the others were expecting this attack already and had a plan just in case. Suddenly, Sasuke realized that this would be a lot harder than he had thought.

"Falcon mobilize," Sasuke said with his eyes still focused on that one spot where he'd seen the flash of pink hair. The three people standing by him immediately vanished, but Sasuke stood still.

He was waiting. He did not intend to get involved in any of the fights going on below him. He'd had more than his share in the past month or so. His goal resided within the highly guarded Hokage Tower, where all of the Elders were probably in one high-security room with guards all around to stop intruders.

Soon, he saw his opportunity. Suigetsu managed to make a big enough fuss to draw many of the ninja's attention away from the tower. The rest of the guards rushed off to fight off Akatsuki. Even Tsunade was drawn away by one specific member of Akatsuki.

With the tower left undefended, Sasuke made his move. He made it in without anyone catching him. With sword drawn, he rushed down the halls searching for the elders. Unfortunately, they hadn't figured this far into the plan since there was no telling where they could be.

But after trying a few routes, he encountered some guards who he didn't recognize and he sliced through them…literally. Sure they belonged to the village he'd came from but he didn't know them and thus, didn't care whether they lived or died. But as he rounded the corner, his rampage was stopped suddenly.

Standing in front of him was a figure that held a very specific role from his life in Konoha. There she stood, her bubble gum pink hair contrasting her fierce emerald eyes. "Sakura…" was all he could say as he looked at her in shock, his sword slipping out of his hand.

When it registered who was standing in front of her, Sakura gasped. "Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed in shock. _No, he couldn't, he isn't…helping Akatsuki?_ She thought as her mind raced over that very thought. But his blood-stained sword lying on the floor confirmed her darkest fears.

Trying to hold back tears, all she could think was… "Too long, it's been too long…"

**End: Well, I know you guys probably hate me for leaving you hanging like that and don't get mad at me for the spoiler about the attack on the village. I warned you! Well, please review, this is my first ever one-shot and I actually hate them myself. Who knows, it might become a story if you guys request it…and once I finish Lone Wolf….**


	2. Author's Note

In regards to this story, I really need some ideas from those of you that have reviewed

In regards to this story, I really need some ideas from those of you that have reviewed. I really don't know where to go with the story right now. I just thought of this in like five minutes maybe. So, if anyone has any ideas you can tell me and they'll go on this list.

Naruto comes and fights Sasuke. Sasuke leaves and everyone retreats. (I know it's stupid but that's all I have.)

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So, I just thought of that idea… If you think it's good plz add that in your review for this note. I need opinions. **Plz REVIEW!!**


	3. Chapter 2, Destiny

Too Long

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!**

**Intro: Because of the popular demand, (AKA every reviewer wanted me to continue), I will continue with this story. This is the second real chapter of Too Long. Hope you enjoy!**

She knew there was no way around it now. He had returned, but with all the wrong intentions. All she could think about was that she had to fight him. "Sasuke…why?" she asked although not expecting an answer.

"Move out of the way Sakura…and I won't have to hurt you," he said. The last part sounded forced as if he really didn't want to say it. Sakura heard the change in his tone and stared at him wide-eyed. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened her eyes to reveal emeralds that looked twice as fierce as before.

"No," she said firmly, pulling out a kunai and getting into her fighting pose. "You will not go any farther."

Sasuke looked at her in shock before leveling his expression and picking his sword back up from the floor. "Fine, then a battle it is," he said in a strong voice.

Sakura suddenly ran at him with the kunai and took him by surprise, slashing him on the arm. The cut was not deep but it stung Sasuke. He turned around and slashed at her with his sword and it made contact with her kunai as she blocked his attack. But in doing so, she realized something. He hadn't applied much force into his attack at all. Sakura frowned. "Stop toying with me Sasuke and take me seriously!" she exclaimed charging at him again.

She was surprised to see him run away from her. She'd left him with an opening and he was fleeing down the hallway. She cursed to herself as she pursued the fleeing Uchiha down the wide hallway. He made a sudden right turn down another hallway and started up the staircase.

Sakura knew he was going to the roof and she decided to cut him off. She ran past the staircase and to the opposite end of the hall. There was another staircase on that end and she sped up the stairs in pursuit of the Uchiha.

After a couple flights of stairs, she arrived in a small rectangular room with a door. When she opened the door, she was on the roof. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. _Great, I missed him!_ She thought to herself. But just as that thought ran through her mind, the door on the other side opened up and Sasuke came running out. When he saw her standing with a frown on her face in front of him, he skidded to a halt.

"I told you…Stop toying with me Sasuke!" she said angrily, losing her temper with the Uchiha she had once loved. He was surprised, to say the least, that she was still intent on fighting him. This was when he knew just how hard this mission would be. He cursed himself for even thinking about the mission. It was because of his scorn of the village elders that he was in this situation. Because of him, Sakura hated his guts and she would not surrender to him.

He looked around, hoping that he could find another escape route, but when he attempted to move, his feet would not comply. He was stuck looking at Sakura, who was ready to rip his guts out, and he wasn't able to move away from her for some reason.

Suddenly a voice entered his thoughts. _"You cannot escape your destiny," the voice said to him._ He couldn't tell whose voice it was, but it sounded familiar. Was it destiny that led him back to Konoha, even if he had evil intentions? Was it destiny that he had met up with Sakura of all people on his way to kill the elders? What was the meaning of those chilling words?

Before he could figure it out, Sakura's fist came flying toward him and he blocked it with only inches to spare from his face. "Stop staring and fight me!" Sakura said, her voice still strong despite the regrettable look she gave him. She didn't want to fight him, nor did he her.

She jumped back from him and stood at a distance staring him in the eyes. It didn't matter that neither wanted to fight. Because of his actions, they were enemies, and you weren't allowed to love your enemies.

**End: I know you guys probably hate me for doing this to you again, but the next chapter will be better. It'll be more…intense. Haha! I've already written part of it…on the back of a page in my sketchbook. Anyways…you'll get that one soon, I promise. Well, review for me plz!!**


	4. Chapter 3, The Real Battle

Too Long

**Too Long**

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!! Masashi Kishimoto will be wishing HE didn't own Naruto once the angry fangirls are through with him. Mwuahahaha! Run and Hide Masashi, we're coming for you! JK**

**Intro: This is the third chapter of Too Long. Hope you enjoy!**

Annoyance knitted itself in Sakura's brow as a passive frown set upon her face. Sasuke had no trust in her abilities and she knew it. It was evident by the very little force he'd put into his attack. She would make him pay for underestimation her. Focusing her chakra into her right fist, she ran at the Uchiha whose face said everything she neede to know about how he would fight this battle. It was her goal to wash those thoughts down the drain.

As her punch came at him he caught it smoothly with his hand. What wasn't so smooth is how he flew back from the force of her attack and crashed into a brick wall. It made a resounding crack as his neck popped painfully from the impact.

Sliding down the wall, the Uchiha's face hit the dirt hard. He'd paid the price for underestimating her. While Sakura stood waiting for him to stand, a blue-haired figure appeared on the rooftop beside him.

"Sasuke, they have reinforcements. The Suna nins have come and it's only a mater of time before they start picking us off. We have to retreat," he said in an undertone to said Uchiha, casting Sakura a confused glance.

Sasuke was now kneeling down looking at the ground where a few specks of his blood had landed on the concrete. They'd originated from a small cut on his right cheek from hitting the concrete. "Go on without me. I've got business to take care of," he said in a deathly cold tone.

Suigetsu exclaimed, "We can't leave you Sasuke! They'll—"

"GO!!" Sasuke yelled, glaring at his teammate with Sharingan activated. Suigetsu quivered under his gaze before giving him a curt nod and leaving swiftly.

Once Suigetsu was gone, Sasuke stood up and looked Sakura in the eyes. Sharingan burned into emerald orbs and the two engaged in an all-out battle.

(Enter Battle Sequence)

Sasuke charged at Sakura with his sword drawn. As he neared her, the smirking Sakura drew a kunai and braced herself for the impact. Sasuke slashed her through the stomach and a poof was heard. Sasuke's sword was stuck in a log. He grunted in annoyance before he sensed a chakra presence behind him.

Before he could react, a foot came crashing down on his neck, pushing him into the ground. "When did you use the Substitution Jutsu?" he asked between a mouthful of concrete. (A/n it's not actually in his mouth. His mouth is just up against the concrete.)

"When you and your little friend were talking, duh," Sakura said bitterly as she pushed her foot down harder. She smirked at how she'd immobilized Sasuke, but then she heard a poof and he disappeared from beneath her to reveal a log.

"Obviously it's been a while sense you've seen the Sharingan at work," Sasuke said from behind her as something cold pressed against her throat. His voice rasped in her ear in a way that, three years ago, would have sent chills down her body. Of course, it still did, but in a different way. Her heart pounded in her head as she began to fear her death nearing, but then she felt the kunai relax a bit from her tender skin, and she frowned.

In a flash, she'd grabbed Sasuke's kunai-holding hand and threw him over her head and into the concrete. Sasuke pulled his arm away from her, his kunai cutting her palm as it went. He stood up and looked at her.

Sakura saw his Sharingan begin to change shape and she gasped before jumping away from him and looking away from his eyes. He couldn't have obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan, he hadn't killed Naruto. That thought crossed her mind. Naruto wasn't in the village and for all she knew, he could be dead. She gasped verbally as she thought about losing Naruto.

"I didn't kill him," Sasuke said from behind her. Without realizing what she was doing, Sakura spun around and looked at him. She immediately realized her mistake as her eyes met with the red and black pinwheel-like pattern of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Immediately she saw Sasuke turn into Naruto right in front of her eyes. This wasn't the normal, perky Naruto however. This Naruto had blood red eyes, darkened whisker marks, and long pointed claws. This was the Naruto that she'd only seen twice, in the chuunin exams when he fought Neji and when he fought Kabuto.

The Kyuubi had manifested his power when Naruto's chakra points had been cut off by Neji's Byakugan ability. And now, as Sasuke trapped her inside his genjutsu, she witnessed the transformation again.

_**Don't worry Outer Sakura-chan! You handle this guy, and I'll handle the one outside!**_ Inner Sakura said to her from her left. Sakura looked and saw an exact replica of herself standing next to her.

_But how can you do that?_ Sakura asked herself.

_**Same as I did Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu. I'm not affected by jutsus because I'm just an inner manifestation of you. I thought you knew that.**_

_No_, Sakura said confused.

_**Watch out**_, Inner Sakura said pointing at Kyuubi-Naruto. _**I've got this.**_

Inner Sakura walked away and disappeared into the black abyss of Sasuke's genjutsu. Sakura turned back to the advancing Naruto, who was now bleeding as the Kyuubi consumed his body. Naruto had vanished and now, all Sakura could see was the Kyuubi wrapped around Naruto's frame, four tails swinging behind him.

She drew her kunai as she prepared to fight in this mind war with the Kyuubi.

**End: Okay, so I know that the end was all like, "Huh? What's going on?" Let me explain. You know how in the preliminaries of the chuunin exams, Sakura fought Ino who tried to take control of her body and make her surrender? Inner Sakura wasn't affected and she fought Ino off, eventually pushing Ino out of Sakura's mind. Well, I just kind of assumed that the same would apply to the Mangekyou Sharingan, since they're only targeting Sakura. Sasuke still doesn't know about Inner Sakura (he's really in the dark on that one) and so he doesn't know to prepare for that. **

**So anyways the next chapter will have like two separate battle scenes—one inside the genjutsu and one on the outside with Inner Sakura and Sasuke. Oh the joy! Sasuke will finally find out about Inner Sakura. REVIEW FOR AN UPDATE!!**


	5. Chapter 4, Inner Sakura Unleashed

Too Long

**Too Long**

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!! Masashi Kishimoto will be wishing HE didn't own Naruto once the angry fangirls are through with him. Mwuahahaha! Run and Hide Masashi, we're coming for you! JK**

**Intro: This is the fourth chapter of Too Long. Remember, there is like a double-scene thing going on here, so there will be much pausing between the fighting. Hope you enjoy!**

As Inner Sakura took control of the conscious mind, she winced and then looked down at her hand, where a cut marred her palm. "Aw man, the first time I get to do this and I'm injured already!" she exclaimed.

She looked in front of her to see a surprised Sasuke staring at her with the Mangekyou Sharingan. "I can't believe I'm _fighting_ you, when I was created because of Sakura's _love _for you!" Inner Sakura (A/n uh…I guess I still call her Inner Sakura) exclaimed.

"What in the world?" Sasuke muttered before he was caught off guard by another powerful punch by Sakura. He was hit in the stomach with enough force to send him across the village, but his flight was stopped as Sakura appeared behind him and gave a powerful flip kick into his back, sending him back to the rooftop.

"Shouldn't his losing sight of me break the jutsu?" Inner Sakura asked herself out loud as she landed back on the rooftop with the immobilized Sasuke. Then again, because she was used to saying everything out loud when she was on the inside of Sakura's mind, it was no surprise that she said everything out loud.

"Oh, but I haven't lost sight of you," Sasuke said in a sly voice.

(Inside the Genjutsu)

The Kyuubi came closer and closer to Sakura with every breath she took. Sakura frowned at it before charging with two kunai, slashing it across its back. The fox demon yowled in pain, but then it turned into a growl as he swiped his four tails across Sakura's stomach, the pure chakra singing her flesh.

_Inner Sakura better hurry up! Even if it is an illusion, I don't want to experience death even once before it's my time to go. Come on Inner Sakura!_ Sakura yelled inside of her head.

(Outside the Genjutsu)

Inner Sakura looked up to see a much darker Sasuke looking down at her. His skin was the color that it was when he was in curse seal form and he had the black four-point star and dark mask around his eyes, which had the Mangekyou Sharingan activated. In fact, the only thing missing was the wings.

"Who are you?" Inner Sakura asked, realizing that there were now two forms of Sasuke in one place at the same time, much like she and Sakura had been in her mind.

"I'm Sasuke's inner personality, as I assume you are to Sakura," he said evenly. Suddenly he disappeared and then reappeared seconds later right in front of Inner Sakura.

"Yeah, but how did you--?"

"Because,…the Sharingan can copy moves, and since I was watching when you took control of Sakura's body for her, my own inner was able to manifest itself as another one of me," Sasuke said from a kneeling position on the ground as he wiped the blood away from his busted lip.

(Inside the Genjutsu)

_Come on! This is just too much. I can't beat him!_ Sakura exclaimed as she ran to an unseen destination, fleeing from the monster that was chasing her.

Suddenly, he appeared in front of her and with a growl tackled her to the ground. Kyuubi's sharp teeth glittered in the non-existent light as he neared her throat.

Sakura's eyes were wide as she thought, '_I'm going to die!'_

(Outside the Genjutsu)

"And now you have to face the two of us at the same time. That means there's an extra pair of eyes to take off of you in order to free Sakura from the genjutsu. How do you plan to accomplish that?" Inner Sasuke (a/n yes, I know it's weird) said in his smooth voice.

"You…talk too much," Sasuke said with a frown as he tried to talk through gritted teeth. Obviously, that crushing blow had affected him much more than he'd let on.

His inner glared at him, while Sasuke's eyes remained set on Sakura. "Great," she muttered before charging Inner Sasuke again. She slashed at him with the kunai, and as expected he dodged it to the left. With incredible speed that Sasuke hadn't known her to have before, she appeared to the left of him and cut him across the stomach.

Inner Sasuke landed on his hands and knees on the ground as pain gripped his side. Inner Sakura turned around to find that Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, she felt his presence behind her. She felt his hand come to her neck and two of his fingers prodded her in the back of the neck.

Inner Sakura melted away back into Sakura's mind as Sakura passed out and Sasuke released the jutsu. He caught her in his arms before she could hit the concrete.

He heard the shouts of Leaf nins below him and quickly used a teleportation jutsu, taking Sakura with him as his own inner returned to his mind.

**End: Yay, I finished their fight! That was really cool, right? Well I think so. So, an explanation: The Mangekyou Sharingan only works if you are looking at the person and you trap them by making eye contact. So, Sasuke trapped Sakura in the genjutsu produced by the Mangekyou Sharingan, which he obtained from Itachi. Because Sakura's inner wasn't affected, she could take over her body and fight for her; however, she could only remain in control as long as she was conscious. That's why when Sasuke hit the pressure point in the back of her neck, Inner Sakura lost control of Sakura's body. Sasuke dispelled the genjutsu by returning his eyes back to normal and his inner came back to him since he wasn't using the Sharingan anymore.**

**I know that the explanation may be more confusing than the actual story, but just bear with me. Well, tell me what you think! REVIEW FOR AN UPDATE!!**


	6. Chapter 5, The Voice In His Head

Too Long

**Too Long**

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!! Naruto owns himself, now what?!**

**Intro: This is the fifth chapter of Too Long. Sasuke has basically kidnapped Sakura, now what does he plan to do? Hope you enjoy!**

Sasuke sat by the fire that he'd made with wood from the forest. He teleported far away from Konoha, knowing that not even their ANBU could get this far in one night. He planned to rest for at least that length of time after fighting with Sakura. He'd bound Sakura's hands and feet in case she tried to run away…or punch him.

He'd laid out his sleeping bag and laid her in it. This was unlike anything he'd ever done before, but for some reason he just couldn't seem to get control of himself. Those words he'd heard in his head on top of the Hokage Tower still rang in his head: "You can't escape your destiny." He'd heard them after he'd been unable to move away from Sakura, and something just told him that the words had something to do with her.

After she'd passed out, he could have simply killed her on the spot. She was defenseless and couldn't have stopped him from dealing a quick final blow to her heart. Maybe that's why he didn't do it, but then again, he'd felt that same unseen force guiding him into catching her in his arms and preventing him from reaching towards his kunai. _Maybe if you can't escape your destiny, you can't destroy it either_, he'd thought to himself as he teleported away with Sakura in his arms.

Now he sat on a log, looking at the unconscious girl across the fire from him. He wondered silently how much control that unseen being had on him. Was it he or that mystical force that had brought her along instead of leaving her to be found by her comrades, given her his bed, tied the knots loosely so as not to hurt her, or placed her close to the fire so that she wouldn't be cold? Perhaps he would never know the answer to those questions, but for now he let that slip away from his mind as he laid down beside the fire using his hands as a pillow.

He stared up at the stars that shone brightly in the clear night sky, and then back at Sakura before finally closing his eyes and going to sleep.

….

Sakura woke up a few hours later to find herself in a sleeping bag, her hands and feet tied together, and a dark-haired man sleeping across the fire, or pile of ashes now, from her. It was still dark out but the sun appeared to be rising. She tried to remember what had happened but she could not—nothing that was real anyway. She could only remember the illusion that Sasuke had trapped her in, and now here she was. She wasn't dead, injured, or in any sort of pain whatsoever, and yet she was with her assailant and ex-teammate. Sakura was really confused now.

_**Sasuke knocked me out and released the jutsu. After that he basically kidnapped us**_, Inner Sakura said bluntly. She didn't even have that flirty or perverted edge to her voice now. In fact, she seemed kind of pissed at Sasuke.

_How do you know what he did after he knocked you out?_ Sakura questioned.

_**Well, your not trapped in the genjutsu anymore and we're in the middle of the woods with Sasuke. Do tha' math genius!**_ Inner Sakura said in a cocky tone. She wasn't in a good mood.

Sakura pulled her hands in opposite directions trying to use her strength to break the ropes but she found that she could not. The same was true for her feet. How much chakra did you use fighting him? Sakura asked her inner.

I don't know…I'm not used to fighting with chakra so…probably too much, her inner replied with a shrug as if it didn't really matter. And of course, it probably didn't. Even if she could break free of the restraints and make a run for it, Sasuke would surely catch up with her and stop her. Not that Sakura knew why she suspected that.

Suddenly, the Uchiha's eyes opened up and he stared at her with his usual onyx eyes. His eyelids were kind of droopy as if he was still tired. Seeing that Sakura hadn't moved, he closed his eyes back and apparently went back to sleep even though the pink-haired kunoichi was still staring at him. Sakura frowned and then tried again to pull away from the restraints.

Sasuke's eyes snapped back open and he glared at her with a set frown on his face. "What? You expect me to just stay tied up while you lay there and sleep the morning away?!" Sakura exclaimed as if nothing else was wrong.

"Hn," came his familiar reply.

"Uugghh! Have you lost your _mind_? You threaten to kill me if I stand in your way, you trap me in some genjutsu and make me witness Naruto being consumed by the Kyuubi and then chased by him, then you knock me out _again_, and then instead of just leaving me in my village with my friends, you kidnap me and tie me up. What is your problem _Sasuke Uchiha_?!" Sakura yelled while trying to sit up in the sleeping bag.

Sasuke let out a small sigh as he too sat up. He diverted his eyes away from her and appeared to be contemplating something, maybe even a response. "I don't know," he said simply after a long pause.

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Sakura exclaimed, infuriated by his lack of emotion or concern about their current situation.

"I don't know," Sasuke repeated as he stood up.

"Hey, don't you dare leave me!" Sakura said as he began to walk. He didn't reply, but nor did he leave. Instead he walked over to her, unzipped the sleeping bag, pulled out a kunai and cut away the ropes that bound her feet. She seemed in shock. _Is he going to let me go?_ She thought excitedly. Although the kunoichi in her was telling her that Sasuke was an enemy now and she should stay and fight him, the strategic mind of the medic nin Sakura Haruno said retreat first, gain your strength back, and then fight.

All of her thoughts of being let go were washed away when Sasuke came bringing her shoes and a traveling cloak and said, "You're coming with me."

"I most certainly am not!" Sakura exclaimed as she made to stand up. Sasuke did not stop her but only watched as she clumsily got to her feet and stood inches away from him, her fierce emerald eyes challenging his emotionless onyx ones.

He seemed unfazed and only said, "Yes, you are. Now get your shoes on."

"Hmph!" Sakura said with a huff. Then she asked in a bitter tone, "How exactly am I supposed to do that?" She held up her bound hands.

Sasuke knew what she wanted him to do, but he would not. As soon as her hands were free, she would run away, shoes or no shoes. He didn't understand why that bothered him so much but it did. "I'll help you," he replied simply.

Sakura frowned. She didn't like depending on anyone for anything, especially something like putting on her shoes. She had to stop herself from kicking Sasuke in the face when he bent down to help her with her shoes. It was even harder to resist the urge to kick him when one of his warm hands clasped around her ankle and lifted her foot while the other slid on her ninja sandals. It was the same for the other foot; she had the irresistible urge to just kick him until he fell unconscious and she could use his sword to cut her hands free.

Sakura managed to hold herself back, and when Sasuke stood up she was a bit relieved for him to be on the same level with her again. Her body suddenly started shivering as the wind blew, bringing with it a crisp flurry of sleet. She hadn't realized it was this late in the season before now. Some of the ice landed on her chilling her to the bones as she realized that she didn't even have enough chakra to perform a self-warming jutsu.

Sasuke noticed her shivering and picked up the black cloak that he'd worn while his team was still called Hebi and before they had joined Akatsuki. It was big and a little long for Sakura, but at least she would stay warm. He draped it over her shoulders and snapped it together at the neck so it wouldn't fall off. Sakura's expression softened a bit as she silently thanked him for the relief from the cold.

Next Sasuke picked up Sakura's supply belt. It had a pouch on it that looped over the belt and held all of her on-the-spot medical ointments and tools for easy reach. He looked at Sakura's face and then at her waist where her skirt had belt loops the perfect size for her belt. Sasuke took off the pouch and started towards Sakura with the belt in hand.

Sakura backed away from him immediately. "Oh no you don't! Putting on my shoes was one thing, but this is a whole other thing," she exclaimed, warning him with her glare not to even think about it.

"So you want me to just leave it here?" Sasuke asked simply.

"No, I want you to untie my hands so I can put it on myself!" she said with a huff.

"No, now come here," Sasuke said in a commanding tone. Sakura made to run away from him again, but Sasuke caught her wrist and pulled her back hard, causing her to collide with his chest. She gasped at the closeness of their bodies, hoping that Sasuke hadn't just gotten really really, well I think you get where I'm going with that, and was going to try something with her.

She backed away from him slightly, and then let Sasuke slide the belt through the loops, her eyes not daring to look into his. As he went from one to the other, his hand went around her waist and then finally to her back, where his other hand took control and pulled the belt through the back loop, sliding the pouch onto the belt so that it rested on her left hip, and then pulling the belt through the rest of the hoops and latching it in the front. His hand lingered on her waist for a second and then he backed away, picked up her kunai holster and pocketed it, and then proceeded to pack up the rest of his things scattered around the small clearing.

Sakura just stood there staring at the ground, her lips quivering in fear. She'd not shown fear ever since finishing her training with Tsunade, but seeing Sasuke's commanding demeanor and feeling his soft touch on her waist as he seemed to take his time in putting her belt on, made a fear rise up within her that was like none she'd ever felt before. She no longer feared that he'd kill her. Now she feared something far worse than death from Sasuke. _Kami only knows the bad habits that he picked up in Sound,_ she thought bitterly.

**End: Okay, so I know there wasn't much action in this chapter, but the next will be better and besides it's good to even out the excitement level of each chapter. I just had like four exciting chapters, so you can expect to have at least one or two that aren't that intense. This fic will be a romance fic, although I have to make sure to move things at a snail's pace between Sakura and Sasuke. I'm not quite sure how to handle to whole thing with Sasuke being a criminal and Sakura not, but I'll figure it out when it comes to me. Well, Review Please!**

**BTW, I just wrote like three chapters: 3,4, and 5 in one day. That's a new record. My muse is strong with this story right now.**


	7. Chapter 6, Stolen Again

Too Long

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Naruto owns himself, now what?!**

**Intro: This is the sixth chapter of Too Long. After informing Sakura that she is coming with him to God knows where, Sasuke is now packed and ready to go, but Sakura fears that his motives for taking her with him and the strange behavior that the Uchiha has exhibited thus far are anything but good. Hope you enjoy!**

**Anyone that read chapter five before 8:00 PM on 10/27/08 should go** **back and reread it.  Because of the author note that split up the numbering of the chapters, I accidentally submitted this chapter for chapter five instead of the real chapter five.  It's really confusing but if you start reading this one you will find that you've already read it if you read before the above time.  You also would have missed the last chapter, making this one seem very confusing.**

Sasuke finally picked up his sword and then looked back at Sakura. She was standing in the same place that she had been when he'd helped her get her belt on. He shouldn't have worried about it. He could have easily pocketed that too and only given it to Sakura when she needed it, but he didn't. He insisted that she allow him to put the belt on her, and when he pulled her back to him, she fell into him. He would never admit to it, but he was actually thankful that the cloak covered his entire body at that particular moment in time.

As if that weren't bad enough, he couldn't help but to take his time looping the belt through the loops of Sakura's skirt, his hands traveling around her waist slowly as if they were measuring her curves thoroughly. And when he was finished, he let his hand rest flat on top of the belt which was wrapped around her waist. Although he'd removed it as soon as he realized what he was doing, he knew that Sakura had noticed because of the look on her face when he motioned for her to follow him out of the clearing.

"Let's go Sakura," he said, trying to be patient and calm with her.

"No. Let me go, Sasuke. I don't want to go with you," she said in a small voice with tears in her eyes as she continued to stare at the ground, her lips quivering and her whole body shaking in fear.

Sasuke had a feeling that what he was about to do wouldn't help but he decided to give it a shot. He took three steps back to her and put his hands on her shoulders. He lifted her chin to make her look at him and then said softly, "I'm not going to hurt you Sakura. Just come with me."

Sakura jerked her head away from his hand and looked away from his penetrating eyes. "Why do you want me to come with you?" she asked in a sour tone, still not looking at him.

"I can't explain it. Something is just telling me to take you with me to…wherever I go," he said vaguely. He couldn't tell her about the voice that he'd heard on the rooftop that still echoed in his mind every time he thought about letting Sakura go.

"That makes no sense. You just want me for—," Sakura yelled before Sasuke put his hand over her mouth with enough force to shut her up.

"If I didn't learn anything else from Konoha, I did learn to respect women. Don't ever accuse me of wanting you for that reason, do you understand me?!" Sasuke said, angered that Sakura would accuse him of such a thing. When he realized how much pressure he was holding Sakura's mouth closed with, he retracted his hand and turned away from her. "Now come on," he said quietly as he regained his composure.

Sakura was stunned but quiet as she followed closely behind Sasuke, her eyes down as she thought about his words. Had he really taken lessons learned at Konoha to heart, even though he had betrayed them to go with Orochimaru? Even though he attacked Konoha last night?

……

It had been three days and they hadn't so much as caught a whiff of another ninja. They'd seen many civilians, but they had no reason to panic. To them, the pair of ninja probably looked like an average couple, since Sasuke had instructed Sakura to keep her bound hands within her cloak. She had complied with his wishes, even if it was only because she was too depressed to do otherwise.

For the past three days, they had been camping out in the woods. On one cold night, they'd even had to share Sasuke's sleeping bag since the Uchiha would not be caught freezing to death when there were at least two other sources of heat for him to cuddle up to. The strangest thing for Sakura was waking up to find that she couldn't move and that the reason for this was because of a pair of strong hands wrapped around her waist protectively.

They hadn't fallen asleep like that so Sakura had just assumed that Sasuke had moved during the night. She wondered if he'd been dreaming of holding her like that to cause him to do such a thing. That thought both scared and warmed Sakura. It was then that she'd realized that she still had the slightest of feelings for the Uchiha, even after all that he'd done to her and her village.

Tonight was another one of those icy cold nights. Sasuke had bought a tarp from a local merchant to keep the frost off of them, but with no tent, they were still subjected to the freezing winter winds. This time, even Sakura was glad for the extra heat.

As they both headed for the sleeping bag, Sakura felt the temperature drop even lower. Oh, what she would give to be back at home with a heater and a thousand blankets on hand. Sasuke got in first and held the sleeping bag open for Sakura to get in it with him. She laid down beside him, wrapping her cloak around her. Sasuke pulled the sleeping bag over her and she zipped it. She was still shivering when she felt Sasuke move his hand and pull his Akatsuki robe over the top of her.

She closed her eyes and smiled for the first time in almost four days. She wiggled around until she could feel her back pressed against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke relaxed and his face dug itself into Sakura's bubble gum pink hair. Before long, both were asleep, warmed by the heat from one another's bodies and the numerous levels of cloth that covered them.

…..

The next morning, Sakura awoke to find once again that Sasuke had his arms wrapped around her waist. This time one was lying flat on her stomach, a little too low to be an innocent touch and a little too high to be counted as a sexual innuendo. His face however, had embedded itself in the crook of her neck and the first action that Sasuke made since Sakura had woken up was to rub his mouth over the smooth flesh of her neck. Sakura was beginning to get turned on, which is why she was glad when Sasuke finally woke up and realized what he was doing.

The first thing he did was pull his head away from Sakura's neck, but his hands acted like they didn't want to move. He waited and eventually he was able to take his hands away from Sakura's waist. Sakura unzipped the sleeping bag and got out of it so that Sasuke could do the same. She was surprised to see that the Uchiha simply laid there, gave a loud cough, and then closed his eyes again.

Sakura knelt down beside him, her knees rested on the sleeping bag. "Sasuke, wake up. Come on, you have to get up," she said before looking at his now reddening nose. It was dripping clear liquid and Sakura realized what was wrong. She rested her hand on Sasuke's forehead, and then gave an exasperated smile as she halfway closed her eyes.

She stood up from the ground and went to her medicine pack, pulled out some cold medicine and took it to Sasuke. He'd need something to drink it down with so she went looking for water, an empty canteen in hand. She found a running spring only a few yards outside of the clearing where she filled the canteen with the cold, sparkling water. She walked back to the clearing to see Sasuke sitting up, looking at her with sick but questioning eyes.

Sakura sat cross-legged in front of him, handing him the pills and the canteen. "What's this for?" he said through a stuffy nose making him sound almost comical.

"You have a cold, Sasuke. I'm guessing that it's from the freezing temperatures we slept in last night," she replied with a warm smile.

Sasuke put the pills in his mouth and then washed them down with water from the canteen. "Why didn't you get sick?" he asked.

"I work in a hospital. My body has adapted to being exposed to sickness and my immune system is much stronger."

"Oh."

Sakura stood up, reached down and gently took the canteen from Sasuke's loose grip. She strapped it to her belt in case she needed it later.

"I'm going to go get some firewood to warm us up," Sasuke told Sakura, who looked at him with caring and serious eyes but did not respond. As he walked away he gave a loud cough, and then halfway turned around and said, "Don't go anywhere."

_Not that I was planning on it_, Sakura thought bitterly. She didn't quite know why his distrust of her affected her the way it did, but she just knew that she didn't like it. She'd just gone out of her way to help her abductor get back to normal health and he repaid her with distrust. Sakura clenched her teeth and balled up her fist to keep from making a rude gesture in his direction.

About ten minutes after Sasuke had left, Sakura heard something in the woods. She looked around, trying to feel a chakra presence but she felt none. A branch snapped and she spun around quickly. Normally, this wouldn't have scared her, but seeing as her hands were still tied together, she was almost defenseless.

Suddenly, she felt someone crash down on top of her and felt a prick in her neck before her whole world went black.

……

Sasuke came back a few minutes later to find the clearing deserted. _Damn it! I shouldn't have left her. She's run off somewhere now_, he thought to himself as he deposited the firewood on the pile of ashes.

Then he examined the ground looking for tracks and saw a large skid mark where someone had fallen onto the ground. On the sides of it were two shoe prints made by about a size eleven in men's shoes. _That couldn't have been Sakura. She's only like a seven or eight in women's_, Sasuke told himself.

He knew now that someone else had been in the clearing and because he couldn't feel any chakra presence near here, he assumed that it wasn't a ninja. _Probably a rogue_, he told himself. _And I left Sakura undefended!_

He began to follow the tracks made by the mystery man and his eyes grew wide when he found a long needle that had been emptied of its fluid contents in the grass. _She's been abducted! And she's unconscious more than likely, because that's a sedative._

With panic controlling his movements, Sasuke ran at incredible speeds through the forest, following the distinct tracks left in the post-freeze mud. He had to get to Sakura and fast!

**End: I know, I'm a cruel, cruel evil person for doing that but hey, it's a pretty long chapter. Don't worry, I'm already writing the next one. As I said in chapter 5, my muse is VERY strong for this story. The others are taking a catnap right now, though.**


	8. Chapter 7, Rescue

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe.**

**Intro: This is the seventh chapter of Too Long. I know you probably hate me for that last cliffie, but it's okay, I'm updating now. So why did the mysterious man in the woods take Sakura? You'll find out very soon. Hope you enjoy!**

**Warning****: There will be blood, lots of it. **

Sakura awoke slowly a few hours later. She looked around to find that she was in a dark, unlit room with no windows and from her point of view, no doors either. That thought was vanquished when the wall to her left suddenly creaked open and a man came in. Well, at least she knew where the door was now.

A tall, burly man was all that Sakura could use to describe him since she was still purged in darkness. Suddenly, he moved and a click was heard before Sakura saw a small light emitting from a cigarette lighter. It came closer to her until it illuminated her face. Slowly, it traveled down the length of her body, the light deflecting off of her curves and giving the man a vivid image of what she looked like.

Sakura felt very vulnerable for some reason, and it was then that she realized that she was sitting against the stone wall in only her underwear. "Ah, 'tis a beauty you brought fer me this time, Suko," the man said before extinguishing the light. "How much fer 'er?" he asked, making Sakura's heart beat twice as fast. She let out a loud gasp causing the burly man and the shorter, stouter man that had entered afterwards to turn to her.

"Four thousand yen," the short one replied, blatantly ignoring Sakura.

"Four thousand?! You're outer yer' mind! I ain't never paid that much for a whore!" the taller one exclaimed. "Three thousand," he said in a commanding tone.

"Three and a half, that's as low as I'll go," Suko said, showing no fear in the face of the stronger man.

"Fine den. I'll take 'er," the tall one said, as he handed over the money and then moved toward Sakura.

He bent down to pick her up, and Sakura let out a powerful kick, hitting him in the stomach. The man backed off and said, "Ya' could've warned me she was feisty!"

"She just woke up, so I didn't know," Suko said with a shrug.

"Servio, get in 'ere!" the tall man yelled looking toward the door.

A taller, skinnier man came walking in. "Yes, Tova-sama?" he asked in a snaky voice.

"Get the girl," the tall man, now identified as Tova said pointing at Sakura.

"Gladly…," Servio sneered as he neared the pink-haired woman with a leather whip in hand. Without knowing what else to do, Sakura spiked her chakra all of a sudden so that if any ninja were near they could detect her, and if she were lucky, come to her rescue.

……

Sasuke had followed the tracks all the way to a mountain, where at the base of it, there was a rinky dink old building that had unattractive stone walls and reddish slats for the roof. It looked deserted from the outside but Sasuke knew better. The tracks led all the way up to the door.

Sasuke drew his sword as he ran for the door. Suddenly two big guys came running out of the building. When they saw Sasuke, they went to draw weapons, but Sasuke was upon them before they could finish their movement. Without giving either of them a second glance, Sasuke slashed his sword through the first and then turned it around and cut down the second man in a graceful figure eight motion.

He continued his rampage through the still-open door and followed the chakra signal through the underground corridors. Eventually he came to a room where he could feel the unusually high chakra signature of Sakura. She must've spiked her chakra to make herself more detectable.

He knocked the door in only to find three men, one of which was holding a whip, and his pink-haired travel companion, who had been stripped down to her underwear and had a large red stripe across her back. Anger suddenly fueled through Sasuke's veins as he looked at the girl, who had tears in her eyes as the tall, skinny man neared her with the whip in hand. He took it for pure instinct therefore, that his first reaction was to rush the man who was closest to Sakura.

He knocked him down by hitting him with his shoulder, and while the man was still flying through the air, Sasuke used his incredible speed to get behind him. He held his sword out and the momentum caused the man to fly straight into the extra-sharp blade of the Uchiha's sword. It sliced straight through his left side causing his blood to fly all over everything, including Sakura and Sasuke.

The other tall man rushed at Sasuke, who threw his sword down and grabbed his left wrist as lightning chakra began to pulse around his palm. As the naïve man continued his pursuit, Sasuke charged his attack. Once the man was within a few feet of him, Sasuke thrust his hand into the man's chest, and yelled, "CHIDORI!"

Once again blood spewed everywhere as the Uchiha's attack sliced through the man's heart. The third man made to run for it, but Sakura extended her foot and the unsuspecting man tripped. As he was trying to get back to his feet, Sasuke pulled his sword out of the first man and walked over to the third one. He bent down beside him and hissed, "Nobody hurts Sakura," before piercing his sword through the man's back, dealing a quick death blow to him as he had the others.

Sakura immediately rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and through her tears she managed to say, "Thank you."

Sasuke, not knowing what else to do, put an arm around her as she cried out her tears on his chest. They stood there for a while before Sasuke heard voices above them. "We have to go," he said quickly, realizing that he'd drawn attention to himself by making such a ruckus. He quickly grabbed a kunai and cut the ropes off of her wrists and put his sword back in its sheath.

Holding Sakura tight to him, he used a teleportation jutsu, causing them to arrive outside of the facility. "Come on," Sasuke said trying to drag the immobilized Sakura along with him.

"What about my clothes?" Sakura asked, trying to cover herself with her hands. Sasuke took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders. Sakura felt a bit uncomfortable wearing the Akatsuki robe, but at least it covered her nakedness.

"You'll have to wear that until I can get you some more clothes," Sasuke replied as he once again grabbed Sakura's hand and ran away from the building where they heard a woman scream suddenly.

They sped up, trying to get out of sight before the people could find them. Once they got to the trees, they just kept running; Sakura followed Sasuke, hoping that he knew where they were going.

**End: I had written about twice this amount but I thought that it was pushing it so I cut off the rest and this is what you get. Don't worry though! I'll probably update both chapters at once.**


	9. Chapter 8, Not Over Yet

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe.**

**Intro: This is the seventh chapter of Too Long. Sasuke has rescued the half naked Sakura from becoming a concubine for an underground operation of thugs. They are beginning to enjoy the company of one another now, but romance, I mean like real romance, will be much later. This is still going to be an action fic because of all of the battles that will take place but the romance is equally important to the plot of the story. Hope you enjoy!**

**Warning****: Characters will be OOC!!!**

An hour later, they arrived back at their campsite. It was still just as they'd left it. Sasuke quickly packed everything up and then looked at Sakura.

She had blood in her hair and on her arms, some of it had dried up. She was dirty and probably cold. He had to do something to make her feel better. He remembered the water that she'd brought him that morning. Although it had been cold, it wasn't icy as most water would have been after such a frost the night before. There must be a heat pocket underneath there, he told himself.

So, he left Sakura in the clearing and went into the woods, the same way he'd seen her enter that morning. And sure enough he found the spring. It bubbled up from under the ground and formed a small pool of sparkling, clear water before running off in a small stream through the woods. Sasuke tested it with his fingers and it was warm, just as he'd expected. Right over the source of the water was a heat pocket that not even the cold winter frosts could chill.

He walked back into the clearing to find Sakura sitting down on the log by the fire. She had her knees together, her feet spread apart and her hands held the cloak closed over her chest. She stared down at the pile of ashes and unburned firewood with a blank expression.

Sasuke sat down beside her and looked into her eyes. He needed to know something, whether it was for his own reasons or whether he was really cared about Sakura's wellbeing. "Did they…rape you?" he asked, finding it hard to say that one word. Sure, in Sound there were always reports of women being raped, but Sasuke had never felt okay with it, and it was a whole other thing to think of someone taking advantage of Sakura.

Sakura's lips trembled as she said, "I don't know. I was unconscious for the most part. I'd only been awake maybe fifteen minutes when you arrived."

Sasuke was silent as he too stared into the pile of ashes. Sakura, meanwhile, turned her emerald gaze to Sasuke. "I don't think they did, Sasuke," she said when she realized how much this thought troubled him. "I would feel different if they had," she explained. She wasn't going to tell him that she'd probably be in excruciating pain if she'd been raped since she was still a virgin. That was more information than she thought Sasuke wanted to hear.

After a long silence, Sasuke stood up and told Sakura to follow him. She followed him back to the hot spring in the woods where he instructed her to take a bath.

"Okay then, just wait for me in the clearing," Sakura said after testing the water with her toes.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" she asked, looking at him as if he was crazy.

"Last time I took my eyes off of you, you got abducted by those men," Sasuke explained.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to just strip down in front of you!"

"Then I'll turn around," Sasuke said as he did just that. He wasn't going to tell her that there wasn't much left of her that he hadn't seen. That would probably get him a couple of bruises from his pink-haired companion.

"I better not catch you peeking either," Sakura said as she finally gave in. She'd had enough of that with Naruto and Jiraiya. She always had to scold the two men for such acts. Why she would accuse Sasuke of even trying to peek was unknown.

Sasuke heard some shuffling as Sakura took of the robe and laid it on the ground, then took off her bra and panties. She dipped down into the water slowly and then sighed at the warmth that it gave her. Sasuke was finding it hard not to let his curiosity get the best of him. With her hands untied, Sakura would probably lay him out on the ground with one of her powerful punches if she caught him looking at her while she was naked.

Sakura splashed around in the water, rinsing her pink hair of the blood that had marred its beautiful appearance. She wiped it off of her arms and body as well. Once she was satisfied that she'd gotten all of the blood off of her, Sakura relaxed for a minute in the water before climbing out, wiping off as much of the water as possible and then putting her underwear and Sasuke's cloak back on.

"Okay, you can look now," Sakura said to Sasuke, a bit surprised that he'd managed to not look the whole time she'd been taking a bath.

Sasuke turned around and looked at her. She looked just the same as before only cleaner and probably a bit prettier with her wet pink hair looking much darker than it really was and her skin just as silky smooth looking as it always had been. Looking at himself, Sasuke wondered how he could ever compare to Sakura's unmatched beauty.

_Told you, you couldn't escape your destiny_, the voice said again.

_Who are you?_ Sasuke thought back. There was no response so Sasuke gave up. At least he knew that he'd been right about the voice referring to Sakura.

"You know, you should probably wash up, too," Sakura said, breaking up his thought train.

"Uh, yeah," Sasuke said after he looked at the blood that had gotten on his arms and chest. He could even feel some in his hair.

"I'll just be over here," Sakura said as she tried to leave the clearing. Sasuke caught her arm and gave her a hard stare.

"I meant what I said before," he said in a strong voice. Sakura sighed and seeing that he'd won, Sasuke walked back over to the water where he began to take off his clothes.

He didn't even give Sakura a warning and before she could turn away, she'd already seen a little bit more of the Uchiha than she would have liked. (Remember guys, she still doesn't love him yet!) Although, at least she knew that her younger self had been right about Sasuke having a nice butt.

Sasuke appeared not to notice as he dipped down in the warm water of the spring. When Sasuke turned his back to her, Sakura's eyes grew wide. She hadn't realized before now that Sasuke's curse seal was gone. Of course, she should have known after it hadn't activated in that dungeon two hours ago. If he still would have had it, then it would have probably unleashed a world of hurt upon that entire base based on Sasuke's protective manner that he had shown toward her even without it.

"Sasuke…," she started.

He turned around to look at her and raised an eyebrow to ask her, "What?"

"What happened to the curse seal?" Sakura asked as she walked closer to the spring. She was right at the edge now and so she knelt down to get to Sasuke's level.

"When I fought Itachi, I had expended all of my power. But I had absorbed some of Orochimaru's power after I killed him, and I was able to use it as a last ditch attempt to defeat Itachi. Itachi, however, had planned for this and he destroyed Orochimaru, taking with him, the curse seal he had afflicted me with," Sasuke explained, without even so much as a care as to his naked presence in front of Sakura, her almost naked self in front of him, or the closeness of their bodies.

Sakura, too, had not given it a single thought, being too enraptured by the absence of the curse seal mark. She smiled at the thought that the mark that she'd seen cause Sasuke great pain a few years ago was gone for good.

Sasuke looked at her curiously, his eyes subconsciously falling to her exposed chest. She was leaning over to get a better look at his neck, making her chest be at his eye level. Suddenly Sakura seemed to notice where Sasuke's eyes had wandered to and she hit him in the back of the head.

"Pervert!" she exclaimed angrily, although her face held an expression of embarrassment more than it did anger. Sasuke couldn't hide his smirk from her at that moment, so he turned away from her and began to wash off the dried blood from his arms and chest.

He'd sunk deeper into the water so that the only part of him that was above its surface was his head and part of his neck. With his back turned to her, Sasuke didn't notice as Sakura came closer to him. She pulled back the tail of the Akatsuki cloak that he'd given her to cover herself, dipped her own legs in the water, got some of it in her hands and began to rinse the blood from Sasuke's hair without even realizing what she was doing or who this was.

He unconsciously closed his eyes as his body relaxed with the rhythmic motion in which she weaved her hands in and out of his raven-colored locks. Each time she stopped to get more water, his eyes opened again, but they closed once he felt her fingers running through his hair again.

Suddenly, Sakura let out a small laugh and Sasuke turned his head toward her. "What?" he asked innocently, his face holding an expression of curiosity.

"Don't fall asleep on me now," Sakura said sarcastically causing Sasuke to narrow his eyes in what Sakura assumed was a playful manner. Her assumptions were confirmed when he suddenly cupped his hand under the water and slung it onto Sakura. "Hey!" she exclaimed, holding up her hands as she backed away from him.

Suddenly, they both heard a branch snap. Sasuke immediately tensed as well as Sakura. Sakura stood up, ready for any attack. She looked all around her, even above, searching for any sign of an ambush. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at a point in the woods. "Get behind me Sakura," he said as he stepped out of the spring, completely naked might I add.

Sakura didn't seem to notice and she simply did what Sasuke said, making sure that she didn't stray too far from his side. She grabbed Sasuke's pants and handed them to him. It would be odd for him to fight butt naked.

He took them and put them on while not taking his eyes off of the spot in the woods. Sakura still had no clue where the ambush was coming from as she hadn't felt any chakra, but the way Sasuke was standing…he must have felt something. Suddenly he reached down, and gave her the kunai holster that he'd confiscated the day he took her away from Konoha. "You'll need it," he said simply, before drawing his katana, now cleansed of the old blood and ready to drown itself in new blood.

Sakura strapped the holster to her leg before taking out a kunai and holding it in her left hand while she clenched her right hand into a fist. Sasuke and Sakura stood back to back waiting for the spies to come out of the bushes. They were completely surrounded by silence now, and Sakura had sweat forming on her brow as she anticipated the attack.

**End: I know, I know! That was a crappy place to stop, but look at the length of the chapter. I have it on web view and it's freakishly long, man! Well, chapters 7 and 8 are definitely being posted together (at the same time). I hope you like both and please, review for both chapters! I hate it when people read like five or six chapters and review on just the last one. If you see something that doesn't make sense tell me! REVIEW FOR UPDATES!!!**

**And I do not appreciate flames from anyone, especially anonymous reviewers. If you don't like the story, don't send a review. There is a difference between constructive criticism and criticism just for the heck of putting someone down. I know that I may sound like I'm being a jerk, but it annoys me to know end when people send me flames about a story that everyone else happens to like. Oh, and if you do send an anonymous review, please do not call yourself, "to-the-idiot-author." I happen to be very smart and I don't appreciate people calling me an idiot.**


	10. Chapter 9, The Hotel

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe. Just like Sakura owns Sasuke, she just doesn't know it yet.**

**Intro: This is the ninth chapter of Too Long. It seems that the two ninja couldn't get away unscathed after all. They have been followed by someone. Now the question is…who? Hope you enjoy!**

**Warning****: Characters will be OOC!!!**

Suddenly the bushes rattled and two men jumped out in front of Sasuke while another one jumped out in front of Sakura. The rushed forward and Sasuke wasted no time charging the two in front of him. Sakura waited until the third man was standing right in front of her before she jumped over him and drove the kunai into his back. He crumpled but didn't fall. Instead, he simply pulled the knife out and turned toward Sakura, brandishing the blood-covered weapon.

Sakura stared in shock at the man. Sure he was muscular, but to take that blow without even flinching was insane. She pulled out another kunai and attempted the jump over the man again, but he grabbed her ankle and slammed her back into the ground. She let out a gasp of pain as she hit the ground and Sasuke turned around. He was taken off guard, therefore when a fourth man rammed into him and cut him on the arm with a dagger.

He hissed in pain before bringing his katana around to cut the man in the neck. He fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood allowing the Uchiha to escape and get back to Sakura, who was trying to keep the man's hands off of her.

He'd just grabbed her breast and squeezed it hard. "I see why the boss got you," he said with a cunning smirk. Sasuke's eyes grew wide and then hostile when he saw the man grab Sakura's breast. Without a second thought, he jumped toward the man and drove the katana through his side, the blade coming out the other end. As the man began to fall, Sasuke pulled the katana away from Sakura, causing the man to fall backwards and well away from Sakura, who was laying there in shock.

While Sasuke pulled his katana from the man's body, Sakura sat up, holding her hand to her bruised breast. Sasuke turned around and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up, causing her to fall into him. She immediately began to cry as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Sasuke just stood there, too fueled by his rage to hug her back and too upset by what the man had done to her to push her away.

When he saw her being touched in such a way by that brute, something stirred within him. It was that same protectiveness that he'd felt when she'd been trapped by Gaara's sand during the chuunin exams. He'd pressed her harder and harder against the tree until Sasuke was sure that she would die. Anger unlike any he'd ever felt, even toward his brother, had welled up inside of him and he was willing to risk his own life to save hers. It was the same this time, only there was an extra level of protectiveness to his anger. He'd touched her in one of her intimate areas, a place that only her chosen partner should be allowed to touch her. To touch her there against her will was despicable.

Sasuke felt the sudden urge to just hold onto her and massage the afflicted area until the pain went away. It was all he could do to stop himself from going through with those urges. She'd probably slap him so hard that he'd go flying back into the water.

Sakura suddenly let out a shuddering breath as if she was in a lot of pain, but not physical pain, emotional pain. Almost subconsciously, Sasuke's arms rose up and encircled her in a soft embrace as she continued to cry against his bare chest. Suddenly she took her head away from his chest and looked at his face. She had a look of amazement in her eyes as she looked into his usual blank eyes. What she saw was beyond him, but she smiled before resting her tear-stained face against his chest again.

A sudden cold wind broke up the moment as Sasuke felt the chills that Sakura had been feeling the entire time that they'd been in the wilderness. Goosebumps formed on his chest, arms, and back and he felt them come out of Sakura's body as well. He released her as did she and he put his shirt back on. Sakura pulled the cloak in tighter over her body and Sasuke looked at her. "We have to get you some new clothes," he stated, causing Sakura to give him a deadpan look.

It clearly stated, "No shit Sherlock!" even though she hadn't said anything. Sasuke was sure that if she had said something, that's probably what it would have been.

Sakura was waiting in the hotel room that Sasuke had snuck her into. She'd told him that there was no way she was going to be seen in public wearing what she was wearing, so he had complied. Of course, he still paid for the room, but he'd brought her in through the window after he'd gotten his room number.

Now she was waiting for him to get back from the clothing store down the street. She'd gone to take a real bath in the meantime. When she got finished washing her hair thoroughly and scrubbing every inch of her body with the sweet-smelling soap, she rinsed off and got out of the steaming shower. She'd left the bathroom door open, not expecting Sasuke to be back anytime soon, but as she started drying herself off with the dryer-warm towels that the maid had brought in earlier, she heard someone behind her.

She pulled the towel up to cover herself and spun around at the same time, finding herself face to face with intrigued onyx eyes. Well, that's what she would say they looked like. His eyes looked the same as ever but one of Sasuke's eyebrows was raised in a curious expression. _I swear if he tries anything, I'll kill him_, she told herself as the Uchiha continued to just look at her.

She checked to make sure that the towel covered her entire front before saying in an annoyed tone, "What?"

Sasuke shook his head and gave his eyes a hard blink before holding out the clothes that he'd been sent to get. Sakura fastened the towel around her body securely before walking over to him and taking the clothes. When she reached out to get them, she paused for a second and looked up at Sasuke, who appeared emotionless as ever. "Thank you," Sakura said as she took the clothes from his hands. Sasuke nodded his head before walking out of the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

_What the hell was that?_ He asked himself as he walked out of the bathroom. He could only hope that Sakura wouldn't notice the physical changes in his body when she came out. Thank God he still wore the "marshmallow" pants that he'd gotten from Orochimaru.

When he saw her small form naked with only a towel covering her body, something came alive within him, literally. He had to stop his body from having its way with the pink-haired kunoichi who'd stood naked in front of him. He sat on the edge of the king sized bed and held his face in his hands, taking deep breaths and trying to calm the arousal that had gripped his body from seeing his former teammate in her birthday suit.

He only had a couple minutes to accomplish this as she soon opened the bathroom door, coming out wearing the pajamas that he'd bought for her. It was a pink silk spaghetti strap shirt and a pair of red shorts that came half way down to her knees. Now Sasuke was regretting buying her something that short. All of his hard work from the five minutes passed was ruined when he noticed all of the semi-tanned skin of Sakura's long, toned legs. She was smiling at him although he didn't know why. "So you do have a fashion sense," she said as she came and sat down beside him, putting a foot between them.

"I just got something that I thought you would wear," he replied with a shrug. Technically, it was Sakura's fashion sense that had been in play when he bought the clothes. He'd only been able to base it off of the clothes that he'd seen her wearing so he did get to have a little fun with the pajamas. Heeheeheehee…. Actually it was more embarrassing than fun, since the clerk kept looking at him funny. It was a girl, of course and so she had her own opinions about the clothes. While trying to help him figure out what to buy for a "girl he'd found in the nude," she kept making passes at him and telling him what she liked to wear. We won't even go there.

"Well, it's very nice. And I love the shoes," she said pointing at the pair of red ninja sandals sitting by the bathroom door. When Sasuke looked at her, he saw a familiar look on her face.

It wasn't the cold glare that she'd given him when they were fighting, or the annoyed look she'd given him only a minute ago. It reminded him of when they were genin. Sakura was always smiling, except when he got hurt. She was smiling now, only in a more mature adult way than the love-struck young girl that it had been a few years ago. Her emerald eyes were bright but not fierce, her lips were curved into a smile but her face held no blush. She was like the serene waters of the ocean when small waves came back and forth, wetting the sand in smooth even strokes.

He liked that look. He hadn't seen her smile like that since before he left Konoha. Seeing her like that now, well it was like getting back some of the old Sakura…not that he didn't like the new Sakura.

Without even noticing, he was staring at Sakura, who suddenly turned to look at him with a smirk. She quickly turned away though. Suddenly, she'd turned back into the old Sakura. It was as if his kindness now brought back the girl who'd endured his cruelty back then.

"Thank you," she said without looking at him. She was blushing and she didn't want him to see her. He might go back to the old Sasuke that would have never taken her away from Konoha in the first place: the old Sasuke who probably wouldn't have thought twice about slicing through her just as he had the other Konoha shinobi.

"You're welcome," he said quietly, although his words shocked Sakura. She didn't get a "hn" or any of the other half-words that Sasuke usually spoke in. In fact, ever since she'd been with him the morning after he abducted her, he'd always spoken in complete sentences to her. Something about this Sasuke was different than the Sasuke Sakura once knew. Something had changed since he'd left Konoha, if only Sakura knew what.

End: Okay, so does anybody have a clue what's going on between these two? What's up with Sasuke? Has he really changed that much and if so, why has he changed? The voice in his head is a big red flashing sign that says, "I'm a clue, I'm a clue!!!" Also, why was Sakura blushing? Refer to chapter 6 when Sakura was recalling the cold night that she and Sasuke had been forced to sleep together in the sleeping bag for a possible (okay more than possible) clue. Everything is beginning to fall into place, even if it is like tiny drops of water in the ocean for these two.

Well, tell me how you liked it pretty please, and don't let the disease of laziness prevent you from reviewing this chapter.


	11. Chapter 10, Sleeptalking Sakura

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe. Just like Sakura owns Sasuke, she just doesn't know it yet.**

**Intro: This is the tenth chapter of Too Long. Sakura and Sasuke have gotten a hotel room…finally! Now strange things are happening between the two ninja. How far will they go? Well, you just have to read to find out! Hope you enjoy!**

**Warning****: Characters will be OOC!!!**

After escaping that awkward moment, Sasuke went to buy dinner from the hotel cafeteria. Sakura had to wait for him to return since he still wouldn't let her roam around freely. She'd planned to gain his trust gradually and eventually he would let her get some space, and when he did, she'd make a run for it. Of course, after that conversation with Sasuke, yes a conversation, she was a bit reluctant to go through with them. This would have been the perfect opportunity but she hesitated. Perhaps it was curiosity or maybe it was some other unseen force that would not let her run away from him.

When he returned with the food, he gave her the box with her lunch in it and he sat in the chair on the far side of the room and ate his. It was a bento box filled with a variety of different foods, all of them being Sakura's favorites. This surprised her. Sasuke had taken special care to get all of her favorites in one box. Then again, he should know them since Team 7 always went to buffets and Sakura always got her favorites. It was amazing how he could remember all of those little things.

After they finished eating in silence, Sakura yawned and Sasuke appeared to hold back a yawn. Being that there was only one bed in the room, they were now faced with a problem. Neither of them really wanted to sleep with the other. When they'd been in the woods it was different. That was done for survival, now survival wasn't really an issue: comfort maybe, but not survival.

Sakura climbed off of the bed and went to sit on the spare futon in the other corner but Sasuke stopped her by holding out his arm. It collided with her chest causing Sakura to come to a halt. "You take the bed, I'll sleep on the futon," he said sincerely. Sasuke was being a gentleman?

_I thought he'd went to Sound not Konoha for training_, Sakura thought to herself. From everything she'd heard of Sound, it wasn't a place that practiced being gentlemen and ladies. No, there were mostly pimps and whores in Sound, along with a number of A-class and S-class criminals. It was unheard of that any man who'd spent time in Sound would treat a woman the way Sasuke was now. Perhaps his teaching in Konoha had formed the majority of who he was, although Sakura couldn't ignore the look in his eyes when he'd almost seen her completely naked.

"Okay, thanks," Sakura said without any further ado. She turned around and walked back to the bed, pulling back the sheets and slipping her thin body into the covers, she pulled them back over the top of her and closed her eyes, aware of Sasuke doing the same on the futon. Sleep came quickly for Sakura after having such a long day.

Sasuke found it much harder to sleep. It wasn't the bed, he was just…thinking. He was thinking of the things that had happened within the past hour, and even those that had been happening ever since he'd seen Sakura in Konoha that night.

After trying to fall asleep for about half an hour, Sasuke's eyes were finally beginning to droop and he'd almost dozed off completely when he heard a whimpering sound coming from the bed. He sat up slowly in the futon and watched Sakura. She was sleeping in the fetal position, with her knees drawn up and her small, slender hands clenched into loose fists. She tightened her fists as tears formed on the sides of her eyes. "Sasuke-kun…," she whimpered again in the voice that she'd called to him with years ago.

Sasuke looked at her curiously as he moved silently from the futon and across the floor to kneel by the bedside. Sakura took a shuddering breath as she continued to whimper. "Don't go Sasuke-kun…I love you!" she said in the same way that she'd said it three years ago.

Sasuke's eyes widened when she said the last three words. The way he'd been acting, the feelings that he'd had lately, it all made sense to him. It took Sakura's sleep talking to make him realize it, but now he understood somewhat. _Am I falling in love with her?_ He asked himself silently as he looked at the sleeping girl before him.

"I'll go with you, Sasuke-kun..," she continued. Of course, she'd said that back then because she loved him. Now, she hated having to travel with him. She'd yelled in his face the morning that she'd found herself bound and in the woods. Even if he fell for her now, there was no way that she could ever love him back. He now found himself in the same position that she'd been in before. Now he finally knew how it felt, although he probably was more excepting of the reality of the situation than she'd been.

"Sasuke..," Sakura said in a much more conscious voice. She was looking at him now with squinted emerald eyes. Obviously, she wasn't totally awake.

"Hn?" Sasuke asked looking at her, well aware of the fact that he'd been caught staring at her.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a yawn before snuggling deeper into the blankets.

"You were talking in your sleep," Sasuke stated simply, not bothering to elaborate what she was saying. He personally didn't want to relive the experience and based on her tears, it was a hard one for Sakura as well.

"Oh." After another yawn, she asked, "What was I saying?"

"Just random things," Sasuke said. Technically it wasn't a lie. They would have been random words to anyone who hadn't been there. "You must have been remembering a time you got really drunk or something," he said afterward, giving her a smirk.

Sakura laughed sleepily and said, "Probably," before closing her eyes once again. Sasuke continued to look at her until she said, "Goodnight Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke's smirk turned into the smallest of smiles which he hoped Sakura couldn't see in this darkness as he went back to his futon and laid down. She'd called him Sasuke-_kun_, maybe there was still some of her younger self in there after all. Perhaps it wasn't so hopeless for him to love her after all.

**End: Mwuahahaha!!! I'm going to stop it there, nee! I'll try to update ASAP, don't get mad at me.**


	12. Chapter 11, Revealed Feelings

_**Too Long**_

**Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe. Just like Sakura owns Sasuke, she just doesn't know it yet.**

**Intro: This is the eleventh chapter of Too Long. Sasuke is beginning to understand the strange feelings that have gripped him while in the presence of his pink-haired companion. I know, I know! Sasuke actually admitting to falling in love is like, "HOLY CRAP, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" worthy but please don't flame me about those kinds of things. I haven't posted the last chapter and gotten the reviews back on it yet, but I just have the feeling that someone will flame about Sasuke being OOC. (Read Warning below) Hope you enjoy!**

**Warning****: Characters will be OOC!!!**

Sakura awoke the next morning, refreshed despite her night of fitful dreams, most of which she couldn't remember, but one had stood out. Even though she technically shouldn't remember it, seeing as how it happened early in the night, she could see the dream, or perhaps the memory itself, just as clearly as she had that night. She dreamt of the night that Sasuke had left Konoha. She could only hope that wasn't the dream that Sasuke had waked her from, claiming that she'd been sleep talking. Sasuke…

She looked over to the futon and found the Uchiha still asleep. Despite all of the hard training he'd endured in Sound, he appeared totally relaxed as he continued his slumber well into the daylight hours. Sakura noted that his hair was ruffled but still maintained its duck-butt appearance, his arms were thrown out to his sides but his muscles were so toned that they appeared flexed even in that relaxed state, and the blanket that covered him was rolled up so that it only covered half of him, leaving his bare chest and the lower half of his legs exposed.

As if he could tell that she was watching, his muscles in his arms suddenly twitched. Shortly afterwards, his eyes peeked open. When he saw Sakura looking at him, he simply closed them again and drew his arm in, placing his hand on top of his chest as he tried to go back to sleep.

Of course, his sleep was interrupted when Sakura's stomach chose this moment to growl loudly. She put her hands over it, trying to quiet her body, but it didn't help. Sasuke's eyes opened lazily and he looked over at her, staring at her stomach and then at her face lazily before he closed them again and banged his head on his pillow as he let out a low sigh. Sakura gave him a shy grin and she felt her cheeks warm.

Sasuke slowly climbed off of the futon, and Sakura got a much better look at what he was wearing. He'd gone for the summer night appeal with only a pair of dark red boxers on. Sakura had to stop herself from fainting at the sight of Sasuke's half-naked body. Whether she loved him still or not, she knew _fine_ when she saw it.

Sasuke seemed to notice her held back reaction and smirked as he turned toward her, giving her a straight-on view of his toned chest and his eight-pack set of abs. He stood still for a second letting Sakura absorb all of his appearance before turning away and going to the closet for his clothes.

When he turned away Sakura's mind began to reel. Seeing him naked at the spring hadn't affected her as much as seeing him half-naked did now. She'd felt something, something that she could only remember from years ago. It was the same feeling that she'd had for the Uchiha before he'd left Konoha. In fact it was the same feeling that she'd experienced so vividly during her dream last night. Had she unconsciously fallen in love with the Uchiha again while she slept? Is that why she'd had that dream? They say that you usually dream about whatever you are thinking about before you go to sleep. Had she been remembering that moment before she drifted off into sleep?

Her thoughts were cut short when Sasuke turned to her, pulling on a dark blue shirt and a pair of black pants. "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked, still looking like he was halfway asleep.

"Food," Sakura replied sarcastically. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her.

"If that's all you've got, I'll go back to sleep," he said flatly, although Sakura detected a tinge of amusement in his voice. She had learned to read the emotions concealed behind his monotonous manner of speaking. That took some skill.

"I don't know. I'm hungry, it doesn't matter. Besides, I'm not that picky, I'll eat mostly any food," Sakura replied in just as level of a tone.

"Okay then, I'll just choose something from the hotel cafeteria," Sasuke said before grabbing a money pouch from his pillow and walking out the door.

"Goodbye to you, too!" Sakura said sarcastically, referring to his lack of a proper goodbye.

Sasuke returned ten minutes later with two plates of piping hot food. He handed one to Sakura while he took the other and sat on his futon with his cup of coffee. Sakura drank the orange juice that he'd brought her. How Sasuke knew that orange juice was her favorite was beyond Sakura. She never did understand how the Uchiha could almost read her mind.

They ate their food in silence. There wasn't really anything to say. Once Sakura got finished she looked down at herself. She'd just realized that she was still wearing her pajamas, the short, revealing pajamas that Sasuke had bought for her. She wondered if he'd bought them so that he could oogle at all of her creamy flesh, or if he'd simply gotten them thinking that it was Sakura's style. She didn't see Sasuke as being the perverted type, so she decided it must have been the second choice. However, reconsideration might be in order…

When Sakura looked up, it was obvious that Sasuke had just realized her state of undress as well. He appeared to be staring off into space, his eyes focused on her. Sakura saw him swallow hard, as evident by the movement of his Adam's Apple. She looked away from him. Sasuke had been acting really weird lately, but this was weirder than anything he'd done so far. He hadn't even looked away when she'd looked at him.

Suddenly, she felt Sasuke shift until he was only a foot away from her, standing to the right of her. She looked up fearfully at him as she let out a low murmur of, "S-Sasuke-kun…" His hand reached out and touched her thigh. Tremors surged through her entire body at his touch. She shouldn't be feeling like this, not after everything that he'd done to her, everything he said, everything he…she looked up at his eyes…wanted. He wanted her. For whatever sick and twisted or completely compassionate reason, he wanted her. And who was she to deny the Uchiha his desires?

Wait, why did she think that? It was her body, she could deny him of his pleasures if she so pleased, but would she? Sasuke's hand moved across her skin lightly, almost teasingly. It reached her shorts and stopped. Sasuke looked at Sakura with that strange glint in his eyes. Sakura looked up to him, unaware that she was showing him that same look.

Sasuke moved his hand from Sakura's right thigh to her left so that he was now leaning over her, almost possessively. His face moved closer to hers until their noses touched. Sakura's eyes closed as she leaned into him, their lips meeting in a soft caress. Almost immediately, Sasuke grabbed her thigh hard while his other hand went to her waist. He began to kiss her forcefully and Sakura let out a small squeal as she was taken by surprise by his brazenness.

Suddenly, Sasuke flinched and backed off, letting Sakura go. He looked at her with wide eyes before walking swiftly out of the room. Sakura sat on the edge of the bed just staring at the door. _What was that?_ She thought to herself. He'd just kissed her like she would disappear if he didn't hold onto her somehow and now he was storming out of the room like she'd suddenly turned into a hideous ogre or something. _Oh, he's a Uchiha, right_, she thought spitefully.

Sasuke almost ran out of the hotel, looking for a place where he could cool down and think about what had just happened. He'd felt…aroused, too much for either his or Sakura's comfort he was sure. When she'd beckoned him forward, leaning in to kiss him, it had sealed the deal, but he'd forced himself to stop. He was almost certain that kissing was as far as Sakura would have wanted to go, but his body was asking for so much more. Quite frankly, it was scaring him.

He found a park bench that was secluded from the general population of this quaint village and he sat on it, putting his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed a fistful of his own raven locks. His breaths came in shuddering gasps and he found it hard to concentrate on anything except the girl in the hotel room that was probably waiting, heartbroken as always, for him to return.

Maybe his choice of action hadn't been the best for Sakura's mental health, but it at least insured that he didn't take advantage of her. He hated hurting her, but this pain couldn't be anywhere near the pain that he'd give her if he would have stayed in that room. He shouldn't have bought such revealing clothes for her to wear.

Suddenly the thought occurred that she might be so mad that she'd run away. He couldn't let her do that, and this time it wasn't the voice that told him this but his own thoughts. He stood up, calming down faster now that he had a sense of urgency about getting back to the hotel.

When he got back to the room, he opened the door slowly looking in as he opened it for no apparent reason. He heard a noise coming from the bathroom. He closed the door quietly, noticing that the plates were gone, but everything else was just as he'd left it. The only exception was that Sakura wasn't in the room. She wasn't gone, however. He could tell by the sobbing noises that were coming from the bathroom.

Sasuke suppressed his chakra as he moved silently to the bathroom door. He heard Sakura crying and muttering something like, "Never love me…", "that stupid jerk", "hate him", "he's heartless", "the little bastard…", and last of all, "always leaving me…just when I was falling for him."

Sasuke's eyes opened wider. She…was falling for him? Again? Even after all that he'd done, she still had it in her heart to love him. How could he have been so selfish? Suddenly he felt a surge of guilt and he opened the bathroom door.

He walked in and went straight to Sakura, who was kneeling in the corner with a box of tissue. He knelt down beside her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry…for leaving…again," Sasuke said quietly as tears threatened to form in his eyes. He stopped them before they could fall, even though he wanted so badly to just let them fall.

Sakura looked up at him with surprised but hurt eyes. They were red and bloodshot from all of her crying. She hadn't even changed clothes since he'd left, so Sasuke imagined that she'd been crying ever since he'd left. Without thought, Sasuke reached forward and grabbed Sakura by face and pulled her closer to him until their lips met. This time, he didn't let go although he was a little bit softer than before. Surprisingly Sakura began to kiss him back despite the emotional shock that he'd just put her through…again (just thought I might add that…again).

She was more timid in her kisses as she wrapped her arms around his neck, tighter than she would have done usually. Sasuke had an idea that it was probably to keep him from leaving. He moved his own hands away from her face and to her waist, pulling her into his lap as he sat down on the floor. All the while he kept his lips moving rhythmically against Sakura's, enticing her with lustful kisses.

Sakura was glad that Sasuke couldn't identify her sexual arousal as easily as she could his. For him, it was very prominent, seeing as how she was sitting in his lap currently, but it was harder to tell on her. Of course, the fact that her body kept trembling and that she had goosebumps on her thighs should have been a giveaway.

Sasuke moved one hand to massage her thigh as more tremors coursed through her body. Suddenly Sakura was overcome by her arousal and pulled away from Sasuke's lips, moving her mouth to his exposed neck. She bit him softly before sucking on his neck, making sure it would leave a mark the next day. Sasuke blinked at Sakura's obviously sexual move, before he complied.

Sakura pulled off of his neck as he took off his shirt. She didn't give him time to do anything else before pushing him down onto the floor, in a lying position. She moved on top of him, freeing his pants from her weight so that she could pull them off while distracting him with her kisses. When Sasuke felt his pants being taken off of him, he decided it was time to turn the tables on Sakura. He turned them over so that he hovered over Sakura.

He sat down on top of her as he pulled her shirt off, exposing her red push-up bra and even more of her delicious-looking flesh. He bent down and kissed her collarbone and down to her chest up to the edge of the bra. He sat up and took off her shorts. Sakura had a fearful look in her eyes and her lips quivered as he reached for the shorts but she didn't tell him to stop.

Sakura reached for Sasuke's boxers while Sasuke reached for Sakura's panties. They exchanged one last glance before stripping each other of the last of their clothes and indulging themselves in sexual bliss.

**End: For the sake of the rating, I'll leave out the rest of the details. You all should know what happens from there and besides, it's a long chapter anyways. I have a feeling that someone will ask how Sasuke knew Sakura's bra and panty size since he bought those for her. You know, I don't really know how. Maybe he was looking at her a little bit too hard, haha a pun! Anyways, Review for me!!!**


	13. Chapter 12, Decision

Too Long

Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! Hinata owns Naruto…hehehe. Just like Sakura owns Sasuke, she just doesn't know it yet.

Intro: Sorry that I haven't posted anything in a while. I just looked at the update date on this story and it was from 2008. I can't believe it's been that long. Anyways, here is the next chapter of Too Long.

This is the twelfth chapter of Too Long. So everyone should know what happened at the end of last chapter, and some people might ask: Did they use protection? Well, what do you think? I mean honestly, I don't even think they had time to think about that. Well, let's see what happens once they're finished. Hope you enjoy (and forgive me)!

Warning: Characters will be OOC!

Sakura had gone to take a shower after she and Sasuke had finished their love making, and Sasuke was waiting for his turn currently. Sakura stepped out of the shower, dripping wet and naked, completely aware that Sasuke was watching her with perverted eyes. He handed her a towel as he stepped into the shower, running his hand over Sakura's chest as he went.

Sakura smiled warmly at him before going into the bedroom to get dressed. She found the clothes that Sasuke had bought her, still in a neat pile where she'd left them. She dried herself off and then got dressed. When she was pulling on the pink skirt over the black tights that Sasuke had bought, she heard the water cut off. She looked at the bathroom door and then turned back to her clothes, pulling the long sleeve white shirt over her head. The bathroom door opened and she turned to find Sasuke walking in, wrapped in only a towel.

She put on the red vest and zipped it up while watching Sasuke go to his dresser for his clothes. She had finished getting dressed already so she just sat on the bed, watching Sasuke as he put on a pair of dark blue boxers. He then got a pair of black pants and a royal blue shirt and put them on. As he was pulling on the shirt, he turned to Sakura, and once he was finished, he walked over to her.

He leaned over the bed, putting one of his hands on Sakura's left side while the other traced the shape of her face. His hand stopped on her chin, and he tipped it up and kissed Sakura gently on the lips. Sakura managed to let go of all of her pain in that moment. It just proved to her that Sasuke wanted more out of their relationship than sex. If he hadn't treasured her, he would have kicked her out or ignored her completely until it was time for them to go another round with Cupid's poison arrows. (In other words: sex) But by him kissing her so softly after all they'd done, it showed Sakura that Sasuke really and truly cared.

Of course, her smile faded away when he pulled off of her mouth, but it wasn't because he'd ended their kiss. She was thinking, thinking of their situation, thinking of her home, thinking of returning. She knew that they had to be looking for her, and she really did want to go back, but there was just one problem. Sasuke could never go back. He'd attacked Konoha with Akatsuki, and that made his betrayal final. No amount of convincing words could make Tsunade allow him to return. If he went back, they would kill him on the spot. This put a huge obstacle in the way for the two lovers, and Sakura knew it.

Sasuke looked at Sakura. She was frowning, and there were tears in her eyes. They fell down and Sasuke wiped them away gently. "What's wrong?" he asked her in a soft, caring voice as he sat down on the bed.

"We can't do this Sasuke…we…we just can't," she said between sobs.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked her, knitting his brow. Was she suggesting that everything they'd done had been fake…or a game? He certainly didn't feel that way and he hoped that she didn't either.

"You…you betrayed Konoha, Sasuke…for good this time…and I love Konoha…I love Naruto, Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei, and everyone else in it. I can't live with myself knowing that I love the betrayer of my home and all of the things that I've always loved. I just can't," Sakura said as her tears turned to raised voices.

Sasuke looked taken aback. He did not respond to her, but he didn't appear angry. He turned away from her and looked down. Sakura stopped her crying to look at him. He appeared in thought, as if he wanted to say something. She waited a while in silence until Sasuke finally spoke. "I killed him, you know…Itachi…I killed my brother," he said slowly, with the slightest hint of regret in his voice.

"Yes, I know. Naruto and I were so excited. We thought for sure that meant you would come back," Sakura replied noting the subtle tone of regret in his voice.

"I wanted to…would have, but then he came. He told me the truth…all of it. Itachi didn't just kill the Uchiha clan to test his power…he was forced to do it." Sasuke looked up at Sakura with cold, serious eyes. "Konoha forced him to do it."

Sakura's eyes grew wide. "W-what?"

"They thought that the Uchiha clan was to blame for the Kyuubi attack, and that we would rise up against Konoha and take over it by force, so they had Itachi to massacre the entire clan. I was supposed to be killed too, but…Itachi loved me. He couldn't do it," Sasuke continued.

"Who's 'they' because I know my mother wouldn't have agreed to something such as that? I know that none of the other ninja families I know would have agreed to it."

"It was all a private operation. The elders decided this without anyone's consent. Itachi expected me to kill him and then return to Konoha as a hero, but I can't do that now. Knowing what they did, how could you see me doing anything else? Was I supposed to act like that never happened and just go back and live under their steely cold gaze, watching for every mistake that I make?" Sasuke explained, raising his voice to uncomfortable levels.

"So you'd kill everyone because of a bunch of old geezers?" Sakura exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes. She was inches away from slapping him right now.

"Nobody ever asked questions, nobody consoled me about the loss of my entire family, nobody tried to find out why the massacre happened. Nobody even cared about the Uchiha clan being lost!" Sasuke exclaimed looking at Sakura like she was crazy.

"How can you accuse everyone else of not questioning the massacre when you didn't even ask questions yourself? If anyone should've been wondering it was you. You should have realized something was wrong when your loving brother suddenly murdered your entire clan and his best friend. You should have been the one to question the massacre, not everyone else that didn't even have ties with the Uchiha clan!" Sakura said in a scolding, but completely effective voice as she came closer to Sasuke's face, looking him straight in the eyes.

Sasuke looked at her with a surprised expression. He didn't know what to say. Everything she'd said was completely true: he should have asked questions, he should've known something was wrong with the picture when his brother killed their entire clan, and he shouldn't have blamed the people that had nothing to do with it. If only Sakura would have been there after Madara told him everything, she would have persuaded him then and they would both be living happy lives in Konoha again.

Sakura didn't say anything else as she waited for a response from Sasuke. Sasuke didn't seem to want to say anything. "You know…you said that nobody consoled you. You wouldn't let us. I would have talked to you, but you always ignored me…you ignored everyone. You shut us out, even when we only wanted to help you."

Sasuke didn't move, but his thoughts whirled back to Sakura's dream last night. And they wandered back even farther to the actual memory that she'd been reliving. "I'll go with you Sasuke-kun!" she'd exclaimed as a last ditch effort to stop him from leaving her. He'd acted as if those words didn't faze him but he appreciated her concern. When he made up his mind how to deal with her, he acted upon it. "Thank you," he'd said as he knocked her out. He knew she wouldn't have understood his meaning, but he knew exactly what he'd meant. He was thanking her for loving him, for supporting him, for understanding him enough to wait for him, and most of all, he was thanking her for caring.

"It's too late now, Sasuke. I still love you, but I can't speak for the entire village," she said in a lowered voice as she crawled closer to him.

"If you want to go back…, I'll take you back," Sasuke said slowly, and Sakura could tell that it hurt him to say those words. He would let her go now. Had he been waiting for something like this to happen before he would let her go? Was he doing this because he cared for her well-being or because he'd gotten what he wanted? Sakura wanted to know.

"Why did you change your mind about releasing me all of a sudden?" she asked, trying to stop the words from coming out in a bitter tone.

"I realize that you can never be happy being away from Konoha. I had hoped that you would adjust and stay with me and be just as happy here as you were there, but now I see. That's not going to happen. I…I love you Sakura, that's why I have to let you go," he explained in a calm voice.

Sakura felt tears threaten to fall from her eyes. What about his happiness? She'd always thought him a selfish person, but now she saw differently. He didn't care about his own well-being, only hers. She'd never seen this side of Sasuke before. She was stunned that he didn't try to force her to stay with him the way he had when he'd first taken her away from Konoha. She was speechless and Sasuke didn't appear to want to say anything else.

He leaned over and kissed her on the corner of her mouth before standing up and walking out of the room. He needed time to think about his actions and to let out his sorrow of giving her up. He hated to leave her after what had just happened between them, but she was unhappy away from Konoha and not even her love for him would change that. She would have wanted him to come back with her, but he couldn't. After all that had happened, they'd never let him back in. Even if they didn't assassinate him as soon as he stepped through the gate, he'd be sent to prison for the rest of his life.

Sasuke walked over to a bench in the middle of a grove of trees and sat down. He ran his fingers through his hair, a clear sign of the stress he was feeling. Sure he could force her to stay. He could make her submit to his desires, but she would never look at him the same as she had only an hour ago. She would never be as comfortable in his arms as she had been then. When they would make love, she would force herself not to flinch away from him in fear and Sasuke didn't want that.

He wished that he could win her back over with his kindness but that had never been his strong point. He just couldn't see any way to have her for himself. I told you: You can't escape your destiny. No matter what you do, it will always find you, the voice said, haunting Sasuke's mind.

Well, if I can't escape it, then what is my destiny? I thought you meant Sakura but she's going back to Konoha, I'm letting her go back to Konoha. So she's escaping from me, so what is my destiny? Sasuke thought angrily. He knew it was stupid to talk to the voice in his head because it probably wouldn't reply. Besides that made him a freak, well more of a freak than he has been.

Destiny will always find a way… the voice replied, fading away into the depths of his mind. It surprised Sasuke that the voice replied. Once again, he got the feeling that he recognized the voice. Someone had told him that before, or he'd heard it from someone, but who? The name wouldn't come to his lips and he gave up.

"Sasuke-kun?" a shy voice called as gentle hand rested on his shoulder. He'd recognize those pale long fingers anywhere. He put his hand on hers as he turned to face the pink-haired kunoichi, knowing that the time he had left to look at her face was cut short now. When he did see her face however, it was not what he expected. There was no happiness, only remorse, a longing in her eyes that was directed at him for whatever reason Sakura was thinking, anger for things that happened in the past, also concerning him, and the knowledge that she failed her village by not bringing Sasuke back in manacles and powerless.

Sakura had finally come to terms with reality, Sasuke deduced, and by the looks of it, she was longing to go back to the fairy tale world. "Yes, Sakura?" Sasuke asked in a calm gentle voice.

"I'm ready to go," she said simply, her voice holding all of the emotions he'd just read on her face. Sasuke looked at her. Indeed, she was ready to go, ready to leave him…forever. She had her traveling clothes on, the clothes that he'd bought her, the clothes she looked so beautiful in, the clothes that made her emerald eyes just pop, eyes that reached out to the deepest most closed up place in his heart and pried the door open. She also had packed up a backpack stuffed full of all the necessities. Sasuke figured she found his money stash and went to buy those goods.

Without another word, Sasuke nodded his head and went back to the hotel to get his clothes then left the small town together, knowing that the time they had was short. As they walked down the long, dirt road together, a pair of turtle doves on a tree parted ways as the couple passed and they flew in opposite directions, just as Sasuke and Sakura were about to do.

End: Okay, so again sorry for the long wait on this. I got so caught up with schoolwork that I quit writing for a while, but I'm back. So I'm sorry to my old readers for letting you guys down, but I'm going to try to make it up to you. This story does not have too many more chapters. I will try to finish it soon. Please review.


	14. Chapter 13, Goodbye

Too Long

Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Intro: Thirteenth Chapter, Sasuke is taking Sakura back to Konoha. What will be the outcome?

Warning: Characters will be OOC!

The past three days had been rough on the two travelers. Snow blanketed the landscape and turned into slush under their feet. It was as if the seasons were portraying the feelings running through both people's minds.

Eventually, however, the snow disappeared and only green forests surrounded them. Sakura kept looking forward, hoping to see the walls around Konoha as soon as she could. Sasuke had been silent for a large portion of the trip. Sakura was beginning to wonder if she really was making the right decision when the gates appeared over the hill they were walking on.

Sasuke stopped as soon as he saw them and Sakura took a few more steps before realizing that he was no longer at her side. She turned around and looked back at him with confused eyes.

"I told you already, they won't let me come back, Sakura," he said with a shrug. Sakura walked toward him. He no longer wore the Akatsuki cloak but Sakura could still picture him in it when he'd rushed into battle with her comrades. She remembered the shock of seeing him wearing the signature of the enemy, but she also remembered him lending it to her to keep her warm and later, to cover her body.

If that cloak meant you were a traitor, then she too would be considered one. She only wished that she could tell Tsunade these things and beg her to show Sasuke some mercy, but she knew that was impossible.

This was goodbye for the two lovers, as she well knew. That still didn't stop the tears from pouring from her eyes as she rushed into Sasuke, his arms encircling her for what would be the last time.

"I don't want to say goodbye Sasuke! I-I love you!" she said through her tears.

Sasuke felt the tears threaten to fall from his eyes as he felt Sakura's tears soak through his black cloak and onto his chest. He held them in, knowing that he still needed to be strong, even if this was an emotional farewell for him as well.

"I know you don't Sakura, but you must. You belong in Konoha with your friends. Naruto and the others are probably worried sick about you. And besides, I am a hunted man. You are not safe with me as you have already seen. I can't protect you Sakura, no matter how much I want to. Konoha can," he said, trying to reason not only with Sakura, but also himself.

"I know...That just...doesn't make it any easier," Sakura said between sniffles. She looked up at Sasuke, her emerald eyes reddening because of her crying.

"I know it doesn't Sakura, but it's for the best," Sasuke said before pulling Sakura's chin up and leaning down to kiss her lips sweetly.

Sakura smiled at him when he did this and then turned to look at the gates once more. "So this is as far as you'll go?" she asked, hoping to change his mind.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I made some mistakes Sakura. I wish I could turn back time and change them but we both know that's impossible. We just have to do the best with what we have," Sasuke said wisely before turning Sakura back around and kissing her more passionately. When they finally broke apart he said quietly, "I will always love you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled at him again, her tears drying. "I will always love you, Sasuke-kun," she said, her voice stronger than his.

"Forever and always," Sasuke said as he let go of Sakura. She handed him the backpack filled with the traveling supplies and then turned around and ran toward the gates of Konoha before she could change her mind.

Sasuke stood there watching her leave with somber eyes. He stood there until he saw the gates swing open to let Sakura in. By then, she had almost disappeared.

You can't escape your destiny. It will always find you, the voice in his head spoke again. He looked down, thinking about the choice that he had made before making a sign with his hand and vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Sakura was halfway through the gate when she turned around to see if Sasuke was still standing there. When she did, all she saw was the smoke clearing where Sasuke had been standing. He was gone. She'd let him leave...again. No, she'd left him this time.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then turned back and walked through the gates of Konoha, her resolve stronger than ever now.

End: Wow, how ironic? I'm listening to my Itunes on shuffle currently and as I was writing the part where Sakura walked through the gate, Carrie Underwood's, "Wasted" was playing. If you have not heard of it, listen to it on .com or some other music station. It fit this chapter completely.

I know this was a short chapter but I figured it would be better to make it short than to do the timeskip I'm planning halfway through. So, REVIEW PLEASE! And thanks to everyone that recently put this story on FAVES or ALERTS. My inbox was filled with them this morning. I really appreciate it!


	15. Chapter 14, Letters

Too Long

Disclaimer: I know you guys don't want to read this disclaimer, but I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Intro: Chapter 14, K sorry about the wait. A note: the website at the end of the last chapter is grooveshark. I don't know why it took it out and left it with a .com but oh well. Anyways, TIMESKIP! And go!

Warning: Characters will be OOC!

Sakura sat at her desk staring at the blank piece of paper. She didn't know if this letter would even get to him, but she had to try. She would send a tracker ninja out to find him and hope that everything went smoothly. No, she needed more than hope. It _had _to work out.

It had been a few months since she'd seen him. She remembered the events that had led up to where she was now. The bliss, the wonderful feeling of being together with _him_. It all seemed so distant as she faced the not-so-blissful future. A tear fell from her eye and left a splotch on the solid white paper. With one deep breath, she began to write:

_Dear Sasuke,..._

A week passed and the tracker nin had still not returned. Sakura was beginning to get nervous. She paced near the outer gates, waiting for them to open or for someone to come over the top, anything but the stillness.

"Hey Sakura-chan, don't you think you should rest? You've been waiting out here for the past couple days. You don't need to worry, Sora will be back soon. I know she will. She's never failed a delivery mission," Naruto said, keeping his voice low and serious.

"I know, I'm just...nervous. I don't know what's going to happen when he gets the letter. I mean, can he even _come_ back?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

"Yea...let's go," Sakura said as she took Naruto's outstretched arm and walked with him to the Hokage tower.

Sasuke was just leaving a diner when she appeared. A ninja in light blue and black clothing with red hair jumped out of the bushes in front of him. She turned her piercing blue eyes toward him and he froze.

On her head, worn like a headband, was the Leaf village forehead protector. Sasuke glanced around to look for civilians. Too many people for an ambush, he thought to himself.

That's when the girl said, "Are you Sasuke Uchiha? I have something here for you."

"Uh...yea. I am," he said, confused as the girl handed him a scroll. It was tied in a pink ribbon which Sasuke found suspicious. "Thank you..." he said, trailing off in a questioning manner.

"Sora Yuuga at your service," she said before looking at the paper Sasuke held in his hand.

Sasuke looked at her, the silence between them becoming awkward. "Well?" he asked, expecting her to leave.

"I thought it would be easier for you to send a reply by me," Sora said with a shrug. Obviously, she either wasn't that high in ranking or she was very carefree. After all, she was conversing with someone that was a missing-nin and a criminal hunted by her village.

Sasuke ignored her and the read the letter.

Sora watched him as suddenly a knot formed in his throat and he apparently stopped breathing. She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before he finally appeared to start breathing again. Then, the oddest thing happened. He smiled, not an evil "I'm about to kill someone" smile, but a true, genuine, _happy_ smile.

"Do you have another piece of paper? And a pen?" he asked in a rush as he looked at the red-head before him.

"Yes, here you go!" Sora said, also in a happy and rushed tone.

She handed him the paper and the pen and he began to furiously scribble away. Then he frowned and then wrote something else a little bit slower. Finally, he signed the paper at the bottom, rolled it up, put it in the scroll and then handed it back to Sora.

"Take this back to her," he said, while holding on to the first letter.

"Certainly! I'll be seeing you," Sora said in a knowing voice before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke couldn't help but continue smiling as he stared off into the slowly rising sun. It would be a difficult journey, but he _would_ be reunited with Destiny. And most of all, they would be happy. Together, all three of them.

**End: Haha! Cliffhanger much? Maybe, but anyways, sorry for the wait on the update but here's your next chappy. I wonder what the letters were about. I will find a way to work those in later, but for now I wanted to hold out the aura of anticipation and suspicion till the very end. So, does anyone know what's going on? Shoutouts for whoever guesses it! And a special prize to the first person to get it right! REVIEW!**


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